Page 49 of The Backup Princess

“Prince Alexander flirted with you.” She lets out a sigh. “Girl, you are so lucky.”

“Lucky?” I huff out a bitter laugh. “He accused me of milking my new status for money.”

“Shut the front door.”

“And he called me a backup princess.”

“No way.”

“I know you think he's the perfect man who can do no wrong, but believe me, Prince Alexander is a horrible human being and I have no idea why women the world over think he's so great. He's not. So not.”

“Interesting.”

“He’s not interesting. Trust me.”

“No, I mean it’s interesting how impassioned you are about him.”

“I’m not impassioned.” I keep my tone light and less…impassioned.

“You know what they say: there’s a fine line between love and hate.”

I chortle. “You cannot be serious, Chlo.”

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” she teases. “When are you seeing him again?”

“I hope never. I don’t want to talk about him anymore. Tell me all about Eric pining for me.”

She chortles. “He’s been telling everyone who’ll listen how much of a crush you have on him, and how he could have dated you just like that.”

It’s as if the room's oxygen was sucked out in one swift breath.

“He said that?” I ask, my voice small.

“I’ve been telling you for ages. He’s a jerk. Forget about him. Besides, you’ve got way hotter fish to fry.”

An image of Alexander’s head imposed on a fried fish pops into my head.

There’s a knock on the door and it drags me from my sweet, sweet dream. Vladimir enters, and I know he’s here to begin today’s instruction, aka my princess lessons. He's accompanied by Dad, who’s been packing his bags, ready to leave for the airport.

“Chlo, I’ve really got to go. Big kisses. I miss you.”

“I miss you so hard, girl. It's not the same here without you. Call me later?”

“I've got more princess training and then I'm meeting the royal peacocks with this super nice princess called Amelia, so I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance.”

“You’re meeting royal peacocks?”

“It’s a whole thing, apparently. The peacock is the symbol of Malveaux and I need to be formally introduced.”

“Sure. That’s a normal, everyday kind of thing to do,” she says on a laugh.

“I'm going to the Tleurbonne Children's Hospital here in the capital soon to chat to some of the kids. It's part of one of the charities that I have as princess. Apparently, my mom was the patroness.”

I smile to myself. Not only do I get to be the patron of a bunch of charities, such as the Children's Hospital, but I get to do what my mom used to do when she was Princess Josephine, and not just Jo Turner, my mom and co-owner of Doug’s Hardware.

“Girl, your new life is amazing.”

I’m not as convinced. “We’ll see. Love you.” I hang up.

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